I’ve been doing some workshops recently, and have been asked a couple of great questions:

What happens to my clients and my files when I die?

This is something you need to think about. Obviously, we’d all like to think that we will have some warning of the end of our practising life, and most of us will. However, it’s a good idea to think about the unthinkable, and something put in place, which, like insurance, you hope you’ll never need. Read more

Many practitioners find their work slow at the beginning of the year. Clients are feeling the pinch from spending too much at Christmas and are full of good intentions to implement resolutions that will change their lives for good, such as losing weight or taking a degree course, but not necessarily going to therapy. If you are finding that you have time on your hands, maybe it’s a good time to get done all those little tasks that we keep putting to the end of the “to-do” list.Read more

It’s hard to imagine two professions that are less alike than psychotherapy and criminal law. Or so you’d think! After all, criminal law deals with laws and rules, with evidence, argument and ultimately, with winning or losing. Not concepts that you learn in therapy training!

I had the pleasure recently of meeting a group of criminal lawyers. Listening to their stories about their practices and the struggles they are dealing with, I found myself thinking how much the two professions have in common. Read more

Did you see the recent IAHIP bulletin in relation to Statutory Registration of Counsellors and Psychotherapists? It directed members’ attention to the website of CORU, the body charged with regulation.

Or perhaps you saw the announcement from IACP that mandatory Garda vetting is to take place for all IACP members from late 2014, and will in the future be a pre-requisite to applying for membership. Read more

In case of emergency…
It’s the scenario we don’t want to think about, but it could happen to any of us in the morning. If you suddenly became ill or incapacitated, what would happen to your practice? Would your family and colleagues know what to do?
During my career in the accountancy profession, on several occasions I was called on to step in to help when a practitioner became ill or died suddenly. The grieving family had little notion of how to go about handling their loved one’s affairs.
But there are things that you can do to minimise the additional stress that might be caused by this situation. By putting in place a few simple processes, you can make life easier for those who might be left to pick up the pieces. And it is especially important if you practice on your own with no partners or colleagues.
Here are a few ideas.

“Work would be great if it weren’t for the clients” was something I heard regularly in my former occupation as an accountant. It was said tongue in cheek, but really spoke to a truth about the ambivalence that many feel about their work, and not just in accountancy. We’d like it to be easy and stress free, where often it’s anything but!

Often it’s not the clients that make the practice of therapy or counselling so difficult, but the other challenges that may keep us awake at night, such as financial struggles, administrative challenges, relationship issues and so on.

There are ways to make running your practice a bit easier on you, and here are 5 strategies that I find useful:

Ray Pembroke is a Chartered Accountant and Partner in Pembroke & Pembroke Chartered Accountants, 15 Ormonde Road, KilkennyTel: 056 7762027 email: ray@pembrokes.euThe Firm specialises in dealing with the affairs of Medical Doctors and related Para-Medical Practitioners.Ray says: “The initial meeting with us is always free, and, we would be pleased to advise how we might be of assistance to you with your Practice”

Ray Pembroke, Chartered Accountant, of Pembroke & Pembroke, Kilkenny, has some sage advice for those starting their own practice:

“So you have decided to set up as a Self Employed Therapist. In order that you can build a successful and viable Practice I would recommend that you follow this 10 Point Plan:-

There is a serious danger in this work that the practitioner’s needs become eclipsed by the needs of her clients. This is particularly so in the early years, when a therapist may not have enough clients and takes on everything that comes their way for fear that there will never be any more.It can also be a problem for those who are well established when they encounter particular clients.

However, there also some easy ways to look after yourself so that you have what you want to give:

Look after your own needs, and balance them with the needs of those you seek to help. You cannot give what you don’t have, or what you don’t allow others to give you. You can’t help everyone, and you are not the only support your clients will have. There’s a reason they ask on airplanes that you put on your own air-mask before attending to the needs of others!Read more about self care

Some time ago, I attended the funeral of a former work colleague. Throughout the ceremony and afterward, talking to others, one message was repeated, by just about everyone, that her death was premature and unfair. She was forty, and left behind a husband, two children, sisters, work colleagues and friends, by whom she will be sorely missed.

It wasn’t the first time I’ve been to the funeral of someone younger than me, and it always leaves me with a nagging question, if I knew I were to die soon, would I be living my life any differently? Read more

“Nature abhors a vacuum” I was taught in one of my first science classes. Whether you’re talking about air rushing in to fill the empty space, or how other people’s goals and intentions can fill up the space in our lives, it’s true.

Nothing gets done without there first being an intention. My big indulgence in life is spending time with friends and family, often away from home because I like to travel too. People often say to me, “Oh, you’re off again,” or “You’re great to organise that.” But it doesn’t happen by accident.